Raw feeding- how to keep the beard clean!

[Sandie1]

My fifteen week old pup is being fed three times daily on Nutriment, from a Licki-mat. Her beard is always full of bits of food afterwards. I use a wet-wipe but it doesn't seem to get the bits out. I've tried a wet cloth too, again not great success. Does anyone have any tips? Should I stop using the licki-mat? Has anyone found anything that helps with this? Would a different brand be better? I don't want to take her off the raw.

[Dinkum]

We have one of each. Watson comes away with bits of carrot or other food stuck in his beard. Rupert, on the other hand, is a 'clean' eater and often has nothing in his beard. They are both on Nutriment and have been for 10 years. Watson also leaves a trail of water across the floor when leaving the water bowl. They just eat out of normal bowls, so I am not sure if the mat would make a difference. We've just accepted it as the way they eat differently.

We will use a baby wipe or a piece of paper towel to get the bits out. Paper towel works quite well. We also have a comb handy for brushing the beard after meals. That helps remove any food, but has the added bonus of removing any dead hair.

As the pup gets older, she may be less inclined to dive head first into the food and may eat 'slower', thus leaving less food in the beard. She may be 'smearing' it around more on the mat. Try without the mat and see if that makes a difference.

[Dawnspell]

Shes not learnt the beard wipe yet

If Jasper has had anything wet he then rolls around rubbing his beard on the carpet or his bed Someone who used to be on the forum, her dogs were fed raw and they used to wipe their beards along the sofa so she used to put a towel on at feed time ready for them cleaning their beards Not much help I know

[Sandie1]

Thank you both! I might try without the licki-mat, I just thought that would help slow her down at mealtimes.
If anyone has anything to add, please feel free!

[zeta1454]

We have so many dogs that they help each other out with any food on beards

You could try a more chunky or less ‘wet’ food as well as changing from the lickimat. We have used Wolf Tucker mince which is finely minced enough to suit our toy breed puppies so should be fine for a mini schnauzer and we have not had problems with food round their faces. The adult dogs are all on Nutriwolds now which is produced locally to us in Yorkshire. They offer a very fine mince which is just meat and their original range which (as with Nutriment) contains a broad range of ‘extra’ vegetables, herbs, oils etc. This range are offered in ‘fine’ or ‘chunky’ although the fine is certainly more chunky than Wolf Tucker and probably Nutriment. It does take a bit more chewing and may be less likely to get in the beard - we don’t really have any issues with that with our 3 adult mini schnauzers. Puppies are notorious for getting food all over them though so your pup may just grow out of this messy stage as she matures. The suggestions above for cleaning the beard are all good ones though.

[Sandie1]

Some good options there Leigh, thank you, I will look into different "makes" too.